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They always lived simply, Chiang Ch'ing said of Mao and herself. Most of their time was given over to reading, study of current events, writing, and occasional involvement in the world outside. Rarely did she and the Chairman go out together. Almost never did they dine out for their own pleasure. Since they made their home in Peking, they went to restaurants (a pleasure of her younger days) only a few times. The Chairman was not very careful about what he ate, she admitted with a wry smile. He ate quickly, and was usually full by the time the last course arrived. What happened was that he forgot that there would be a last course, and by the time it arrived, he had no interest in it. That habit of his reminded her of Wang An-shih, the prime minister of the Sung dynasty, who was known always to consume the dishes which happened to be positioned closest to him without taking notice of other dishes arrayed on the table. When his wife told the cook that he always favored those dishes placed near him, the cook thought it was the dish he liked, not just its proximity. When she mentioned this to the Chairman, he chuckled and said to her, "That's all you know about history, and you tease me about it!"
KHRUSHCHEV IN PEKING
All during the late '50s, troubles were beginning to brew with the Soviet Union, then China's chief international ally. By 1960 the break between the two countries was complete. While Chiang Ch'ing did not play a direct role in foreign affairs, she did have some contact with Soviet leaders. Leonid Brezhnev she would later describe as "the biggest clown in the world"; Nikita Khrushchev was "a big fool." She was particularly bitter about him because he had talked to foreign statesmen about the "yellow peril."
Her only brush with him was in 1954. She remembered standing among the leaders on the rostrum of the Gate of Heavenly Peace to review the parades, demonstrations, and fireworks that marked the state's fifth anniversary. Chou Enlai, always alert to proprieties, made a move to introduce Chiang Ch'ing to Khrushchev. Seeing what was about to happen, Chairman Mao stood up, walked over to Chiang Ch'ing (almost never did they appear publicly side by side), and brusquely escorted her away, leading her down one of the two alleys that ran along the sides of the rostrum. There the two of them enjoyed the fireworks together, out of the public view. The memory she cherished. [Chinese leaders rarely appear publicly with their spouses.]
Khrushchev's visit to China in the fall of 1959, ostensibly to celebrate National Day on the first of October, was tedious and painful. On that occasion Khrushchev announced he would withdraw all his experts from China and pressed the Chinese to pay all their debts. [The Soviets also] told the Chinese they wanted to set up a long-range broadcast station in China. Had they won that argument they would have been able to control China's entire communications